Public Cardroom Rules - House Fees

House Fees

Public card rooms typically charge a fee for conducting the game. The rake is the scaled commission fees taken by a casino operating a poker game. This fee structure is common in low-stakes cash games. For ring games, it is generally 5-10% of each poker hand, up to a predetermined maximum amount, such as 3% up to $3.00. This fee is sometimes referred to as the "drop" since the dealer will drop the rake into a container at the table. In California, rakes based on the size of the pot are not legal, so a fixed per-hand drop is assessed based on the betting limits at the table.

The casino may alternatively charge an hourly rate for renting a seat. This fee is referred to as a time fee, or simply "time." Time fees might be combined with a rake, but that is not common. Time fees are more common in mid or high stakes games.

For tournaments, the fee might be 10% of the buy-in, but can vary widely. The fee might or might not be spelled out clearly. Generally, a tournament will be advertised as "buy-in amount+fee". For example, "$100+$10" would have $100 going to the prize pool and an additional $10 going to the house as the fee for a total of $110 cost to the player.

Poker is a player versus player game (unlike blackjack or roulette) and the house has no interest in the money wagered. The rake, drop, or time fees provide the house's revenue.